BEIJING (AP) — A court in northern China has sentenced three employees working for fugitive real estate billionaire Guo Wengui, who has been locked in a high-stakes political feud with the ruling Communist Party.

The Dalian Xigang People's Court on Friday announced prison terms of less than three years for three employees who prosecutors said were ordered by Guo to falsify financial documents to obtain loans from a state bank. Guo's development firm Beijing Pangu Investment Co. was also fined $36 million.

Guo fled China and now lives in a $68 million apartment overlooking New York's Central Park. He has cultivated a vast social media following and vowed to expose sensitive information concerning top party officials unless the government frees his employees and family members held in China.